Author(s): Lemos, Natália ; Lemos, Kátia ; Silva, Lurdes ; Quesado, Patrícia ; Serra, Sara
Date: 2025
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/11110/3150
Origin: Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave
Subject(s): International Standard on Auditing 701; Key Audit Matters; Auditor’s Reports; Public Business Entities; Public Health Sector
Purpose: This study aims to conduct an exploratory analysis of the key audit matters disclosed in the auditor’s reports of the public business entities of the Portuguese public health sector from 2017 to 2021. Methodology: Based on the information on the National Health Service website and, considering the availability of the accountability documents, the categories of key audit matters were identified using an exploratory content analysis. Results: The exploratory analysis of the content of the auditor’s reports highlighted six categories of key audit matters most disclosed by auditors: employee benefits, revenues, provisions, inventories, impairments in receivables and tangible assets. Research limitations: The study is limited by the availability of accountability documents. Additionally, the results are also limited since this research focuses only on the specific context of the public health sector. Originality: This investigation contributes to the field of auditing and to knowledge within the thematic of the categories of key audit matters, differences between the categories of key audit matters disclosed in the Portuguese context and in other geographic contexts.
